Page 96
A petite woman with raven-dark hair and pale skin beneath an oversized “Taking the World by Storm” vintage Midnight Storm t-shirt lay on the bed beside him, her head resting on his chest. Jackson had one arm lazily flung around the woman’s shoulders and nursed the drink in his other hand.
“Do you think you’ll ever get married?” the woman asked, her voice a high-pitched saccharine giggle of a thing.
Jackson shot her a bored look and shook his glass, rattling the ice. “I thought we were having fun.”
“Your brother’s getting married.” The woman drew circles on Jackson’s chest with her long, manicured fingernails.
Jackson snorted. “Not fucking likely.”
Kat could see the moment the woman clocked that she’d hit on something juicy, her eyes lighting up. She sat up on the bed, a mock-scandalized expression on her face. “What do you mean?”
Jackson laughed, the arhythmic lilt of it coupled with his glassy eyes a clear sign that the drink in his hand wasn’t his first.
“Did Beckett call off the engagement?” the woman asked, scooting closer to the inebriated pop star.
“Nothing to call off.” Jackson shook his head back and forth slowly against the wall. “He was never engaged.”
Kat’s chest went tight, her heart pounding as Zach and Logan shot her confused looks.
On screen the girl made a face, her eyes flicking towards the camera. “I saw their engagement pictures. The ring—”
“The ring is the only real thing about that relationship,” Jackson took another sip of his drink, but pulled the glass away frowning. “’S empty.”
He went to stand, but the woman stayed him with her hand on his chest. “What are you saying? Beckett was never engaged to that woman?”
“It was all fake. Some shit about protecting her bonus for finishing the tour,” Jackson said, staring at her hand on his skin like it was a foreign object. “Why d’you care? You wanna fuck my brother?” He scowled at her in an expression that, ironically, looked so much like his twin, then flipped back the sheets to get out of bed.
The video cut off just before giving the camera a full view of a naked Jackson Hayes.
Zach lowered the phone and turned a wary look in Kat’s direction. “What’s he talking about?”
She couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe. Her mouth was too dry, something heavy was pressing down on her chest, and she thought she might throw up or pass out. Oh God, was she going to throw up and pass out at the same time?
“Kat,” Zach said, lower this time. “What’s going on?”
“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” Logan said, glancing between Zach and Kat.
“We… um… it…” Kat ran her finger over the band of the engagement ring, her mind unraveling too fast for her to keep up. Whoever had sent them all this video was obviously with the press, which meant it was only a matter of time before the story broke more broadly—if it hadn’t already.
“Are you engaged to Beckett or not?” Zach demanded.
“It’s not that simple,” Nico said, throwing her a lifeline.
“You knew?” Logan turned towards his bandmate, hurt flashing in his eyes.
The door to the family room flew open, Derek standing in the open doorway as he tucked his phone back in his pocket. “Kat. A word,” he said.
He held the door open for her and they slipped into the hall as Zach and Logan continued to grill Nico about what he may or may not know. On unsteady legs, her vision already blurring, she followed Derek to the end of the hall, to the quiet little alcove lined with windows overlooking the illuminated Cleveland skyline.
Derek dug his hands into the pockets of his dress pants, his face studiously blank. “Kat, you know I hate to do this—”
“Then don’t,” she said, a whole new brand of dread sinking in her stomach, like an anchor tied around her sternum and internal organs and tugging down, down, down.
“There’s already footage of Jackson’s accident circulating online. Armchair experts are already piecing together moments from throughout the night, speculating about his sobriety on stage,” Derek said, his tone cold, clinical.
“I didn’t know he’d been drinking tonight,” she said, the words tumbling over each other in their rush to get out. “If I had, I never would have let him go out there.”
“I know. No one is questioning how much you care for the members of Midnight Storm.”
